Under His Spell

Chapter 1- Mystery Man

" So, you excited? I mean, this is our first year of college, so how couldn't you be? Gosh, I'm just so thrilled, I still can't believe it's here, I feel like I've been waiting for this my whole life. We need to go out and celebrate or something... Sam?.. Sam, are you even listening to me? Earth to Sam," Jess breathed out, the bright eyed, young girl with the long legs and bouncy, long blonde curls of hair covering her head who had been Sam's best friend ever since they were just kids. She was really smart which was one of  the qualities, along with her looks, that always made all of the guys fall for her. She was here to study in the field of medicine and hopefully become a doctor which was her life long dream. Sam was beyond thankful to have her as a roommate. Without her around he'd be lost for sure with no one to talk to. He always tended to be that way, never exactly a social butterfly, but he didn't mind that. All he needed was his books, his few friends, coffee, a laptop and he was good to go.
" Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry. Very thrilling.. Hold on a sec, I'm trying to get to the end of this page," Sam mumbled distractedly. His nose was buried deep in a novel he could hardly pull himself out of, his eyes quickly moving back and forth across the delicate white pages with the tiny black font that any normal person would have to use a magnifying glass in order to read.
Jess only laughed softly in response before rolling her eyes as she continued to unpack her bags, carelessly shoving her mounds of clothing into her drawers that were already over flowing at this point. Sam was the organizational neat freak of the two of them, so he'd be the only one keeping this place clean. Messes stressed him out because of his OCD, so he couldn't help it.
    Sam finally pulled his face away from the pages, marking his spot with a book mark before setting the leather piece of beauty aside on his nightstand, smiling softly at his friend with all of his focus on her now, no distractions. " Sorry, Sam is officially back on Earth now. You said you wanted to go out and celebrate, right? That sounds like it could be fun and I actually saw a good bar just around the block."
    Jess grinned as she walked over to Sam, patting him on the shoulder before she made her way over to the kitchen and opened up the fridge to look for a little snack. " Now that's what I like to hear, Sammy. You're getting in the spirit, thank god for that. Where'd my nerdy best friend go who only cared about his world history books and his laptop which he only used for researching about even more history? I mean c'mon, dude, I've seen your search history. Not a hint of gay porn, what's with that? But hey, at least I've lured you into the party life now," the girl teased, grabbing herself an apple from the fridge before plopping back down onto her bed with it and sinking into the squishy memory foam mattress.
    Sam's face immediately flushed fifty shades of red, blood quickly rushing to his entire face and the tips of his ears as he crossed his arms over his chest and stuttered out, " J-Jess, shut up. Only total creeps go stalking around on the internet for g-gay porn. Like seriously, do they really have nothing better to do with their lives? Well that's not me.. A-Anyways, changing the subject now."
A mischievous smirk spread across the girls red lips, enjoying the way she could embarrass her friend with a single snap of her fingers. He was too easy. Way too easy.
" I'm just messing with you, Sammy, chill your ass. Now get up, mister, we're going to go have ourselves a great time and I'm gonna make you have fun whether you like it or not," Jess breathed out as she moved to put on her sleek black high heels and grab her fancy hand bag which she stashed a tube of lipstick in, money, and her cellphone.
Sam just rolled his eyes at Jess as he replied, " Yeah yeah, whatever, I'll have fun I guess.." Afterwards he got up and pulled on a jean jacket and a pair of brown boots, fixing his hair a little bit in the mirror before they were both out the door. They walked down the street together to this crazy bar where pretty much all the college kids seemed to be tonight.
The two of them showed their ID's to the large, scary looking man who stood by the front doors before stepping inside the establishment. Sam was immediately overwhelmed by the colorful lights flashing in his eyes, the crowd of people, strong smell of alcohol, and loud music that was bursting his ear drums. After letting out a shaky sigh he forced himself to smile at Jess as he spoke, practically having to yell just to hear his own voice. " This place is nice.. Loud, really loud, but still nice. What do you wanna do?"
His friend only laughed at him before grabbing him by the arm and leading him over to two empty stools at the bar counter. " I'll take a Margarita and my friend here will have a beer," Jess said to the bartender who quickly made their drinks and slid them across the counter.
    Sam was sitting with his elbow resting on the counter and his chin on his hand, looking around as he took in all of the scenery, hardly able to hear himself think. His eyes were staring at the football game on tv when suddenly something else caught his attention. Well, more like someone else. Across the bar in a quiet corner stood a tall man with a piercing green gaze and an alluring presence. His hair was short with soft spikes and he wore a black leather jacket that made him look even more attractive than he already was. There was something about this man, something mysterious yet dark as he made direct eye contact with the young college student, a glass of whiskey in his hand that he slowly sipped from, a smirk on his lips.
    Sam's mouth went dry as it was hanging open a little bit before chewing on his bottom lip instead, his heart pounding like a drum in his chest. He felt like he was in a trance that he couldn't break himself out of.
    Jess tapped his shoulder as she tried handing him his drink until he finally snapped out of it several long moments later, eyes meeting hers. " O-Oh, um, thanks.." He took the beer but then set it down, not wanting to drink at this moment. He wasn't even a drinker so he had no idea why Jess got him one. His glance drifted back over to the man every minute or so until he was gone a little while late. Just vanished. Strange, Sam thought, but then he was finally able to give Jess his full attention again although mystery man was still floating around in the back of his mind the rest of the night, even when he went to sleep.